Just spotted this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4670708.stm

Interesting.

Collapsing mine levels, or possibly human disturbance?

Culver Hill tributary comes out into the Tamar near Devon Great Consols.

Don't know if you know already, but the wooden platforms in Wheal Fanny are no longer there
G

Huh? they aren't? I stood on some of them on saturday..

its your fault then! 

If you fancy a bit of a detour from the Tamar Valley, there's a few bits and bobs on Kit Hill.  I don't recommend the Excelsior Tunnel though, the most boring trip anywhere.  Redmoor Mine near Callington is (was) an entertaining trip if you like huge lumps of rock peeling from the walls and crashing down into the gloom.

Hello Gus, just thought I'd drop by, had much rain lately, te he.
We're off through Le Tunnel to The Ardeche tomorrow, cu in a while, ps hope it stops raing for u soon.

Sorry to resurrect an old topic but hoping I might be able to shed some light.

I live in Gunnislake and spend a fair bit of time trying to get in half the mines around here plus exploring some of the forgotten ones.

As far as I'm aware, the tributary in question near the weir runs parallel to the river for a reasonable distance. There are two adits I suspect drain to this tributary, Drakewalls Shallow and Drakewalls Deep Adits.

The shallow adit has been kept quiet for a very long time, it's location is also not so well known due to the landowner and duchy regulations however there was some movement far back in there around '06 plus it is visited infrequently and when it is, the tributary turns an ochre colour. The adits drains further up the hill but artificial drainage puts it into the Culver.

The Deep adit is something I'm looking in to at the moment, there have been significant collapses in this passage I suspect by looking at the topography of where I suspect the tunnel to lead, which led me to find what I think is the adit portal beneath a good 20ft of riverbed with an extremely small stream leaking out.

It's something I'm working on (trying to get permission first) and will let anyone know if we get in there as it could lead to the main Drakewalls system higher up the valley (seems easier than descending one of the uncapped shafts). Also the water level is still unknown but the shallow adit is certainly not flooded and leads to a large lake.

The ref to Drakewalls seems a bit confused, the original ref to Culverhill is I believe to Collacombe Down Mine on the other side of the Tamar, quite a few miles from Drakewalls & in a different count(r)y.
Incidently Drakewalls deep adit is the one still open & gated by the Duchy. The shallow adit was just below the railway & fed a leat leading to Wheal Arthur, as far as I know the area is now totally obscured by tips but never been to look.
There may have been trial adits at river level, but these were insignificant trials looking for extensions of the Wheal Russell lodes. I believe at least one was still accessable quite recently.

That's very interesting. Multiple (very old) maps I have from Truro archives indicate the Deep Adit Portal to be near the river bank, with the Shallow Adit indicated to be further up near the bottom of Stony Lane.

I'd be interested in looking to see if this recently accessible trial adit is still accessible now though.

A stream going into the tributary (potentially not the Culver then, this I may be confused on?) near the weir, following back away from the river indicates multiple areas of subsidence in the field in the direction (or near enough) of Drakewalls.

Someone I knew vaguely in Plymouth quite a few years ago had family living somewhere below Drakewalls, near the river. He said that in their garden there was a shallow shaft which dropped into an adit, but apparently never very extensive. I never found out exactly where they lived, though. I suspect this was West Wheal Russell, reported in the Mining Journal in the 1850's as being on both sides of the river, the Cornwall side probably being subsequently absorbed by Drakewalls.

I've wandered down both sides of the Tamar several times but never found anything accessible on the Cornwall side (apart from the adit in the parapet of the bridge - Old Gunnislake).  I was under the impression that the once-extensive opencuts at Drakewalls were filled in so wouldn't that affect the extent of the underground workings?

The Drakewalls deep adit is in a garden & normally access only possible with the Duchy mineral agent. It does or did access a big stope on the main lode which at that level had evidently not been affected by rubbish tipping, although part was apparently lost by collapse probably about 30 years ago. This adit was driven in at a fairly late stage in the mine's history, & was really only possible after the advent of rock drills as it had to be driven a long way through barren ground. There were plenty of other significant workings on the Cornish side as you will find by reading through PCG publications from the 1960's & 70's, but many probably not entered for a long time now because of access difficulties & the deteriorating state of many of the shaft collars.

Okay, so going by this, what I've stumbled across may well be West Wheal Russell?

I'll consult PCG.

Thanks Guys
Josh